The presentation features "Dave the Trainer" and "Roiy"
(Roh-ee) the Shepherd talking to your leaders and teachers about:
how to
organize a great training event
why teacher training is important
how
different teachers prepare their rotation lessons
and sharing some
creative insights about how to teach in the Rotation Model
The presentation gives you complete navigational control
to select content, and contains numerous pop-up questions for discussion
--should you wish to use it in a group setting. The presentation was
created in Flash. To view it online or on CD, you will need to have the
latest (free) Adobe.com Flash Player plug-in for your web
browser.
When
viewing online, "loading" times for each part
of the presentation will vary depending on internet speed and your
computer.
Download instructions:
(Windows only right now, a Mac
version will appear here soon. The online version works in both
Windows and Mac)
training_cd.zip
is a 24mb file. It should download in under 2 minutes on a fast
connection.
For advanced users:
Download the
training_cd.zip file to a new folder on your desktop.
Extract all
the files found in the downloaded zip file into that same
new folder (ie,
'unzip' them).
Start the
presentation by double clicking the rotation.exefile in
the folder. This will open the Flash training presentation in
your browser.
For everyone else:
First,
you have to download the training_cd.zip file to your computer.
Then, you must unzip that file into all it's constituent files.
The presentation is
composed of numerous files, all of which have been zipped (compressed
together) into one downloable file. You will need to download that zip file, then unzip the
it into a folder before you can view the presentation on your computer.
**Depending on your operating system version (XP/Vista/OSX), the
terminology may be a little different.
First, click the
download link above or
here,
and select SAVE. You should now be looking at a
"dialog box" asking (in effect) "where would you like to save it".
It may be suggest a default location on your computer, such as, a
download folder or documents folder. It's best to save it
to a brand new folder so you can find it easily later on.
In that file dialog
box which you are now looking at, select "Create (or
Make) a New Folder". We suggest making the new folder on
your desktop and naming it "training". This will make it
easy to find.
Next, with your new folder
created and highlighted, begin the download into that new folder by clicking 'save' or 'ok' (depending on your operating
system's wording). This should begin the download into that
new folder.
After the download is
complete, you should now see the "training_cd.zip" file in that new
folder you created. Depending on which operating system
you have, a dialog box may be asking you to "extract" (unzip) it.
That's the next step...
Next, you must
"extract" or "unzip" that zip file into its various files into that new
folder. After this step you can begin to view the presentation.
Depending on
which operating system you have, this extraction/unzipping
process might be worded a little different.
In Vista,
when the file is downloaded it shows you the list of files by
default and there's a "extract" link above them to click. In
XP it may just show you the zip file and you must double
click that zip file to unzip it, and THEN you will see a message
asking you where you want to unzip it to. If your computer has a custom unzipping
utility, such as Winzip, that program may appear at this point to ask you
where you want to unzip the file.
After you select unzip/extract, it
will then ask you to confirm WHERE you want to
unzip the presentation files. Unzip it right into the
new folder you've already created. After it has done this,
it should show you all the unzipped files. Double click "rotation.exe"
to start the presentation.
To START THE DOWNLOADED
PRESENTATION:
Once training_cd.zip is downloaded and unzipped, you can play
the presentation on your computer by double clicking the
ROTATION.EXE file in the folder. At
this time you can also insert a
blank CD into your CD Drive and burn all the files/folders that were
unzipped, and give the CD to whomever you want.
View our other free online presentation:
Introducing: the
Workshop Rotation
Model
This presentation is also
an online "Flash" presentation which can be viewed online or downloaded
and distributed. You are welcome to make as many copies as you want, and
you are free to use it in any setting.
Support Rotation.org's
website, our free materials,
...and our ability to create terrific "Flash" presentations like this
one.
Rotation.org
is a volunteer run non-profit website dedicated to supporting the Workshop Rotation
Model for Christian education. We rely on church and individual
donations to pay for the website, and to pay for our part-time
coordinator position. Donations keep this site and all its content
freely available to all.
There is no charge
for using Rotation.org website content or for becoming a member
of the Ideas & Lesson Exchange. This site will always be
FREE to anyone who wants to use it. However, it is not free
to maintain the site and continue have the professional help of our
coordinators.
We appreciate any help you can give. We're really not about
"free lessons" --we're about "choice." Learn more about that
here.
Who
is Rotation.org?
Rotation.org
is a group effort! Hundreds of volunteers, educators, and pastors
have collaborated to bring you this site. Begun in 1997, a volunteer Board of Directors
oversees the website and finances, and manages the work of our part-time
resource coordinator. Rotation.org Inc is a a 501c3 non-profit corporation.
Rotation.org Inc. Board Members:
Jaymie
Derden, Elementary Coordinator at State St. UMC in Bristol VA,
Board Secretary. Carol Hulbert,
Rotation Teacher and writer at First UMC Church Ann Arbor MI, and
currently our Board President. Tanja Rouintree,
CE coordinator at the Presbyterian Church in Nevada Missouri,
Board Treasurer.
Rotation.org Inc. Board Members Emeritus
Neil MacQueen,
Rotation.org Founder, Presbyterian minister. Rotation.org webmaster. Julie Burton,
Director of Congregational Resources for
Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery. Anne Camp, Retired DCE, Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh Cindy Merten, DCE, First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham MI
Rotation.org Coordinators
Ken and Phyllis Wezeman,
coordinator@rotation.org are our paid part-time coordinators and are also members
of the Board.
Ken and
Phyllis Wezeman
are our
part-time paid Resource Coordinators. Ken is a Christian
educator, publisher, writer, editor and former resource center
staff person. Now a Presbyterian, Ken pastored a Christian Reformed
church for seven years and was on staff at the Parish Resource
Center in Mishawaka Indiana. In addition to his publishing work,
Ken is technology coordinator for Hope Rescue Mission in South
Bend and an amateur radio operator. Phyllis Wezeman is
a nationally known CE author and seminar presenter, and is herself
is a Rotation educator at First Pres South Bend. We are truly
blessed with their talent.
The Cost of Running this Site
When Rotation.org first began, it was all done out of the pocket of
its founder. Then a few friends chipped in to help pay the
web-hosting bills. As we've expanded, the webhosting bills have
grown quite a bit. The servers behind our Lesson Exchange are
powerful and feature amazing software. And some of the special
scripting at this site is done by professional web folks. Still, the
technical stuff doesn't cost as much as you would think... about
$2000 a year.
Our biggest commitment of funds is to pay for our coordinators. They
deal with requests for help that flood this site. They also keep the
volunteer Board of Directors organized. One of our Coordinators'
biggest contribution is toward the Writing Team which produces free
Rotation curriculum each year. We pay our coordinators to manage the
volunteer writers and professionally edit the "free" lessons. Of
course, the Wezemans are professional writers and editors! So
we feel we're getting a bargain.
From time to time we spend money to create content that directly
benefits the users of this site. For example, the free Flash
presentations were paid for out of the Fund. Rounding out our annual
expenses are things like accounting and tax expenses, and expenses
related to our annual board meeting.
All totaled, it takes about $18,000 a year to operate this site. In
2010, we want to raise an additional $5000 to add more free training
presentations. Given the large number
of people visiting this website and using its materials, we
think that's incredibly reasonable amount to ask and shouldn't be
hard to raise IF everyone "takes their turn" making a donation.
Many
churches put us in their annual budget because they know
Rotation.org is saving them a ton of curriculum money, and because
they appreciate the mission-forward aspect of what we're
trying to do.
Who handles the cash?
In the summer of 2005 we incorporated and established
funds under the oversight of the Board of Directors, and the management of an
accounting firm that works with our Treasurer. Donations pay for the Coordinator position, site hosting
and domain name services, special projects, the free flash training
pieces, accounting costs, plus the occasional need to create
or update our website's functionality. Until the Spring of 2005, Shadyside
Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh PA faithfully managed the Fund.
History of Rotation.org
www.rotation.org began in the Fall of
1997 as a means of freely distributing the original Workshop
Model Manual produced by Neil MacQueen and Melissa Hansche at
the Presbyterian Church of Barrington Illinois. Neil created
the website and posted the manual along with a few articles and
some free lesson plans. (The manual has since evolved into a
book published by Presbyterian Publishing).
Click here for a more detailed
history of the Rotation model and movement.
As the Internet
began to flourish, several of us who were contributing content
to rotation.org recognized the great potential of an Internet
site to inform, resource, and create connections between Rotation
educators. The website was also an answer to the small avalanche
of phonecalls about the Rotation Model that Neil and other churches
were experiencing.
1999
saw Rotation churches
contributing a ton of free lesson materials. In the summer of
'99 an email newsletter and Web bulletin board were added. The
"Ideas Exchange" bulletin board and Lessons Exchange
are designed to explore something completely new in Christian
Education: using web technology to allow educators to share
with each other.
In 1999 and 2000
the site grew and grew, not only in content, but in the number
of people who were using it. So in
2001, Neil and several
other educators started the Rotation.org Fund so that
we could afford the expanding site and make much needed improvements.
At that time the Fund was accounted for by a volunteer church which held the
bag for us, received contributions and paid the bills. At about
that same time the Rotation.org Advisory Team was created. This
is a group of 3 Rotation.org users and Christian educators who
work on a consensus basis to spend the money, establish policies
and practices. Membership on the Team was by the invitation of
previous Team members, and terms last for two or three years.
In 2002 a generous
grant from 1st Pres Birmingham Michigan allowed us to add a part-time
Coordinator position and update the Lesson Exchange software.
Since then Rotation.org has made an annual appeal to the "Friends of Rotation.org" via email that allows us
to continue the Coordinator position and maintain the website. In 2004 we
were able to hire a part-time "Exchange Gardener" to help clean up the
message boards and reorganize them. In 2004, over a dozen volunteer
gardeners (moderators) took on "upkeep" responsibilities for various
areas of the Exchange.
In 2005
Rotation.org Inc. was created as a
501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. We
are now overseen by a five-member board and have a CPA firm managing the
Fund and auditing the account.
In 2007 the board began planning for an
ambitious series of online training "flash" presentations. These
presentations can be viewed at home or church, and they are completely
free to everyone thanks to the faithful donations of our contributors.
The first presentation introducing the model to your volunteers appeared
in 2008. In 2009 we'll release a presentation about Training Your
Teachers.
Rotation.org
is not only a resource, it is a radical experiment in resourcing -supported
by volunteers. We are demonstrating a new way of creating curriculum and
sharing resources with each other.
And we continue to push the envelope.
Rotation.org is not
officially affiliated with any one particular Rotation group.
Rotation.org is not
connected with any publisher, denomination, and is not
officially connected to "Lord and King" (aka Children's Ministries of America)
-a which offers national rotation conferences. Rotation.org is not officiallyconnected with Sunday Software Inc.
whose owner (Neil MacQueen) originally created the rotation.org
website and who is on the Rotation.org Board of Directors.
There is no fee
to belong to the Rotation.org community. It's open to all.
Who owns the domain
name and the materials?
ALL materials at this website belong to the author(s)
named with each piece. They have complete copyright control over
their work and can request that it be deleted or modified at
anytime. At NO time will the information gathered at this site
(currently only via the email news subscriptions) be used for
commercial purposes. Neil
MacQueen is the domain registrant of record for
www.rotation.org. In 2005, Neil transferred
ownership and rights to the domain
name to Rotation.org Inc and the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors approves all expenses and manages the
Fund.
8 ways you can support
Rotation.org:
1. Share lesson materials
by posting them in the Lesson Exchange.
2. Browse postings and
add your ideas to others.
3. Join the Volunteer Writing
Team.
4. Make a donation to continue
to maintain and improve this website.
5. Make a larger donation
to continue the ministry of our Part-time Resource Coordinator.
6. Suggest
new topics, changes and additions to the Ideas Exchange message
boards and the Articles database.
7. Contribute your creative
Rotation photos.
8. Add your church's name
and contact info to the CONTACT directory here so that others in your area can connect
with you.
